Tag Archives: Crafts

While I’m already quite tardy in posting on my South American adventures (did I even mention I was spending three weeks in Ecuador? I didn’t? Well gosh! Anyway…), I wanted to pop in and write up a quick blip about this original little ditty I stumbled upon whilst seeking out inspiration for ways to set myself apart from the rest. Turns out, design jobs in small towns are a bit hard to come by. And while my work usually speaks for itself, I’m having to market myself (something I’ve never really had much experience in doing) and create a personal identity (also, new angle for me).

I think this is a really original way to express a passion in both design and textile work and how the two may cross over on each other. You can find out more about this gal and her neat stuff at www.melissaloveslife.com.

Hopefully I’ll have an initial Ecuador/etc. post up sometime this week. Until then, have a great weekend and a Happy New Year!

I’m sure this little gem is making it’s way around the internet already. These felt letters (hand sewn? If so, how very time consuming and dedicated) are advertised on Etsy as a great way to “make learning the alphabet fun for your little one.” I predict that many a typophile will be snatching them up for entirely selfish purposes.

There is something very basic and elementary about felt- about the memories it’s created throughout my childhood of crafts, and about the very specific range of colors available in most crafting stores. Perhaps you could call it a sort of comfort fabric.

An update cop-out, perhaps. But I wanted to post a little bit about my first welding experience. One Saturday, not too long ago, I loaded up my bike as Matt headed off to the shop. I had every intention of making my way back in to town (a 30 or so mile ride, avoiding the main highway) but ended up stranded at the shop after encountering an impassible gravel road. I spent a bit of time helping out with various small bug-related projects, until finally I think Matt got frustrated with me being at his heels, looking for things to do, and offered to teach me to weld. He was very straigh-forward and let me loose on a bin full of odds and ends left over from past projects.

I came out of the afternoon with a new number for our apartment, seeing as though it had come to us without. The ‘post-it note’ with a number in pen was getting a bit old.

(Jacket, helmet, and gloves were borrowed, and thus quite large. I will say I was very afraid of flying berries burning me the first few times.)

Caitlin Mociun of the fabulous Mociun has an awesome crafty tutorial at Pipeline on how to turn a cheap-o dress into a funky-spring type print dress using- you guessed it- potatoes. I always forget about this “technology” (you all remember playing with potatoes and paint in elementary art classes…) and things like this inspire me to take simple tools/techniques and push them further. I’ve never got the time, though. Either way- I’m absolutely fascinated with the pattern created. That, and I love (LOVE) potatoes. It’d be a struggle to keep me from eating my supplies.

Missouri Pettway, 1902-1981. Blocks and strips work-clothes quilt, 1942, cotton, corduroy, cotton sacking material, 90 x 69 inches. Missouri’s daughter Arlonzia describes the quilt: “It was when Daddy died. I was about seventeen, eighteen. He stayed sick about eight months and passed on. Mama say, ‘I going to take his work clothes, shape them into a quilt to remember him, and cover up under it for love.’ She take his old pants legs and shirttails, take all the clothes he had, just enough to make that quilt, ahd I helped her tore them up. Bottom of the pants is narrow, top is wide, and she had me to cutting the top part out and to shape them up in even strips.”

Alright, I’ll fess up. I don’t really know who this Aaron Rose guy is, or why he’s even relevant to modern/pop culture, or why the ubiquitous Selby wants to take his apartment’s picture. But I will admit to a few key things: 1. he’s got an awesome sense of color, and 2. I was instantly jealous of his mariachi guitar.

Oh, what is that on his shelf? An Olympus Pen? (Sitting happily next to a Canon FT QL, might I add…) I also remember liking the way his record collection is set up;

much more for the browsing and easier to go through, but not so well thought out for the sound. Mine doesn’t work all that well when you want to find that one Cannonball Adderly record and you know you maybe filed it under ‘C’ or ‘A’- I mean both are logical, but ultimately in my mind he’ll always just be Cannonball, but to Matt, well he might get filed by his last name.

(Add about thirty more albums, and you’ve got our current situation.)

Were the records not filed in a shelf, this whole search would be a bit easier. But I digress. This post is about grandmothers. Or rather, granny squares.

Ok, now we’re at the collision point of the above image and the rest of this entry. Without going into specifics, I’ll just let it be known that I am not a fantastic crocheting wiz. The four knitting projects I began this winter remain unfinished- and they’re all scarves (one, for my sister, who will coincidentally be spending the next winter in Mexico, so that project can wait- procrastination goes deep). But, as soon as I saw this image, I knew I was destined for something much bigger and wilder. So I stowed it away in my memory, all the while pining for the skillset to magically come to my hands. Lo and behold…

Well not quite, but at least I stumbled upon a blog that wanted to try and teach me how! That’s a start, right?

I think the original journey began over at A Cup Of Jo (not for certain) but somehow in the back pages of the Purl Bee, I ran accross an entry about a Giant Granny Square, which then lead to yet another entry on how to begin the little granny square. And if you know me at all, you know that I absolutely love it when little ideas snowball into big ideas. The Giant Granny Square has my name written all over it

So, there you have it. Not only are we taking on this wonderfully large endeavor of moving (next week! without a single box packed! Don’t worry, it’s only across town.), but I’ll also be graduating in June (cross your fingers, please!) and with any luck, we’ll have some money set aside for a pretty sweet road trip come July. Oh, and I’ll be starting a GIANT granny square to cover our entire bed, if not bedroom. Because I am just that fascinated with them.